When All Else fails
by DisneyxGirl
Summary: Blocking out every bit of magic, Sarah works towards a dull career, with no hope for the future. As she walks back from a night of studying, she is mugged, words are said and she soon finds herself in the one place she was running from. With no one to run the labyrinth for her, she is stuck to face her reality with her enemy, the Goblin King.


I suppose it couldn't be helped...as I sat on the hard stone floor looking out the window, I couldn't help but think of it. It couldn't be helped. I wanted so badly to be part of the adventure, even if it was secretly. If I had ever once mentioned my secret desire, it had never came back to mind. To think, I had found a life, I had stood on my own for a small time and now...

Looking around the small dark room, I couldn't help but mentally kick myself. The moon lit the small cell with it's silvery rays. The window that let it in was too small for me to fit through but without bars or glass, it still let in the chill of the night and the uninterrupted skyline and country side. From this side of the castle, I could not see the labyrinth and yet, I would have rather found my death wandering in circles in it's many twists and turns. How could it be that I arrived back in the place of my greatest triumph and now I sat in a cold dark dungeon cell in the highest tower of this castle? Now that is a tale that you won't believe...

"Sarah!" I whipped around confused. Sure enough there was a group of girls, one was hailing me from a cab. After my adventures from the Underground, I shunned out anything that had to deal with magic. I stopped acting, cleaned out my room and sat there for the longest time. My room sat empty for the longest time and I sat there trying to figure myself out. I still am, I suppose...In the end, I graduated high school with honors. I moved out a few months after graduation. Attending a college, staying in a dorm, I was the perfect student. I was the perfect daughter...yet, I was practically mindless. Cutting myself off from my dreams, I tried to live on. Trying and doing are two very different things...

"Are you coming to the party?" the girl hailing me down, Stella, called from the cab. Waving a bit, I trudged over to the car. There were two other girls in car, Stella's little groupies. I shook my head, waving my hand lightly.

"I don't think so. I have a lot of work to do," I said quickly trying to my excuse sound plausible. She didn't look like she believed me but nodded. "Next time," I promised. That seemed to work. She nodded and I stepped. The cab sped away. It could not be helped. A freshman, doubling up on classes was nearly unheard of. It couldn't be helped. I needed to work hard. One thing I learned was that nothing would be given to you. I had to work for everything and anything given to you was cheap or a trick.

Pulling the strap on my back pack, I grunted. My bag was heavy. Loaded with books, homework assignments and a couple snacks, I pulled it squarely on my back and moved away from the curb. The cold October wind swirled around me as I made my way towards my dorm. Contrary to what I said, I didn't have lot of homework. I had a lot of work, to work ahead. I was ahead in all my classes...about two months ahead.

Psst.

I stopped, what was that? I was walking towards my dorm and I was in the park. The park was overlooked by dorms surrounding it. Most the students were at the party a couple dorms over. On a normal night, it was nice to walk about the lush green park at night. The green of the trees and lights from the dorms twinkling on with life within the rooms. Now, the trees had orange leaves and the lights no longer flickered but stood dark against the dark.

Psst.

There it was again. Looking over, I couldn't help it but walk a little faster. Instinctively, I moved away from the noise. Walking towards my dorm, I walked towards the more dense part of the park. Moving towards the noise seemed like the worst idea imaginable. What I didn't know was that _was_ the worst idea. Moving towards the denser part of the park, I could see my dorm in the distance. I was almost home free...almost. My heavy bag was grabbed and torn from my shoulders, tossing me into the darkness under the trees. I landed in the the piles of leaves, my books sprawled out on the ground. A fist full of brown hair was grabbed and I was pulled from my feet. My assailant held my hair above my head, and kept me from squirming. Another hand dug through my pockets searching for my wallet or something.

"W-w- Let me go!" I yelled but I was smacked, hard. My head whipped to the side, the only thing that kept me up was the grip on my hair.

"Just Shut it, girlie!" my attacker hissed in my ear. I shuddered as he dug out my wallet from my pocket, ripped of my necklace and searched for other valuables. Gathering up my courage, I struggled and felt a scream building up deep within my chest. His rough hands hand me fast even past all my struggling. But what else could I do, I couldn't just stand by and let them rob me! That is until I felt the cold blade of a knife against my neck...on second thought, I could just stand here and hopefully they would let me go. I looked to the man trifling through my bag, there was no mask to conceal his face. No I was going to die, they weren't hiding their identity, so they were going to let me live. My mind reeled, it couldn't stop, the adrenaline wouldn't let it. Once again, these two men seemed determined to prove me wrong. My mind froze as soon as I heard it.

The man digging through my bag had dropped a book...a book, I threw away. How? I still don't. All I know is that for some reason he read the exact words on the page that would seal me to a worse fate than this. I heard him read aloud 'I wish' and next thing I knew, I was on ground. Sitting up, I looked around confused, the two assailants were tossed from me. I rubbed my neck and felt my heart drop, it was wet. Pulling my hand away, I could barely make out the blood on my fingers. It was deep but not deep enough. Several darker figures came from the shadows and I jumped as they seemed to be coming towards me.

I-I didn't say it though and he didn't say he wished me away...did he? It was a blur. I turned and looked to my assailants who were fighting off a tall and darker figure. They were losing. This all happened in seconds before I felt something grab hold of my arm. Quickly, I jerked it free and struggled to my feet. They gripped my legs and I tumbled to the ground. As soon as my head hit the ground, I was seeing stars and was dazed for a few moments. They didn't need much more of an invitation. The small shadows pounced and I was pulled down, down into the ground. Panic began to rise and I fought to regain my senses. I couldn't let this be the end of me. Kicking and squirming, I tried to free myself and only managed in tearing my shirt up in the oddest of places. M y legs were dragged into the dirt first, then my hips, I was slowly beginning to let the panic consume me.

My last sight was the night sky, the stars seemed to laugh as I was swallowed up into the earth, leaving nothing but my bag and the little red book as the last shred of evidence that I had ever been there...

Not even a second later, something flicked my forehead. I opened my eyes not realizing that I had them closed in the first place. What had happened, looking around, I found myself sitting on a dusty floor. Around me small creatures stood silent. What on earth, then I looked in front of me. There he was, crouched to my eye level. The thing that made cringe, that danced me around my nightmares. He was dressed in a white poets shirt, black vest, overly tight pant and a pair of knee high boots, exactly as I remembered him. It all hit me full force, I was wished away and now I sat on the floor of the throne room in the Goblin City. Oh Lord! What was I to do?

A touch to my neck jerked me out of my thoughts. My body was filled with some sort of warmth that felt wonderful to my sore limbs but I jumped back. Rubbing my neck, I staggered to my feet, my wound was healed.

"Goblin King," I summoned the courage and yet it sounded at best like a whisper. He smirked and stood, even now, towering over me. I swallowed hard and tried to put on a brave face. "send me back."

"Now why on earth would I do a silly thing like that? Here, I am minding my own business when suddenly, I feel that someone has been wished away and who to my supirise would it be but our _lovely _Sarah," he snareled. I winced and rubbed that back of my neck, it was stiff under my touch. But all the same, I deserved his anger, the way I...wait a mintue, I only beat him at this own game. Why should I feel bad?

"That may work on someone else but not me, now send me home," I stated firmly, my courage building. I would not play the swooning girl or the weakling. I was strong, the years on my own had proved that. Now that I was face to face with my nightmare, didn't make me any less strong.

He laughed, loudly and the the goblins around us chuckled uncertainly with him. I looked around, my brown hair spinning around as I did. He caught a strand and forced my attention back to him.

"You forget, dearest, you were wished away. Anything wished away here is mine. Do you have someone to run the labyrinth for your freedom?" I stared. The people that wished me away was man mugging me...

"T-that's not-"

"Fair? We have been over this last time, Sarah. So, you are stuck here by the looks of it. So, now what to do with you..."he said letting go of my hair and walking away to sit on the throne. There was a moment of silence. My mind seemed frozen. I was stuck here?

"Well, first thing is first. While, you seem quite alright with exposing that much skin, I cannot have my goblin's minds twisted by such an image. So, you will need proper clothing," he stated amused. I followed his gaze to my shirt and flushed red at my torn shirt. It had torn from the collar to my belly button. Gripping my shirt to close the gap, I tried to block out the sound of his laughter. How...How was I to survive here? How was I to live here where my greatest enemy was king and I was a prisoner?


End file.
